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August 11, 2018

Congress members stock trading on insider info, OK. Telling family members, NOT OK.

One of the reasons congress members are so rich after retiring from government salary is because buying and selling stock with inside information of what might do to help or hurt the company is legal.

So it's always an oddity when one of them draws law enforcement scrutiny over stock trades.

Here are a couple of articles from the local morning paper -- Midland Reporter-Telegram.

The one about Representative Christopher Collins is labeled as an Associated Press article. And it tells the story of how he used inside information to unload shares of Innate Immunotherapeutics Limited in time to avoid a big loss. Allegedly, he shared his insider information with one or more relatives who sold too.

The other article is about Representative Mike Conaway and appears to be a press release. It tells us that while Mr. Conaway sold his stock in that same company. But no charges were brought against him because the way he did it was perfectly legal. Presumably he didn't tell his relatives, so he got a pass.

That whole business of letting representatives use inside information in stock trades stinks to high heaven. But since they make the rules under which they operate, it's unlikely we'll see any reforms.